PA Medical News about Coronary Artery Disease Risk Factors

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Emerging Risk Factors for Coronary Heart Disease: A Summary of Systematic Reviews Conducted for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
Annals of Internal Medicine, 10/07/09

Helfand M et al. – The current evidence does not support the routine use of any of the 9 risk factors for further risk stratification of intermediate–risk persons.

Methods

Results from a MEDLINE search for English–language articles published from 1966 to September 2008, using the Medical Subject Heading terms cohort studies and cardiovascular diseases in combination with terms for each risk factor. Studies were included if the participants had no baseline cardiovascular disease and the investigators adjusted for at least 6 Framingham risk factors.
Study quality was evaluated by using USPSTF criteria and overall quality of evidence for each risk factor by using a modified version of the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation framework.
Each factor's potential clinical value was evaluated by using a set of criteria that emphasized the importance of the effect of that factor on the reclassification of intermediate–risk persons.

Results

9 systematic reviews were conducted.
C–reactive protein (CRP) was the best candidate for use in screening and the most rigorously studied, but evidence that changes in CRP level lead to primary prevention of CHD events is inconclusive.
The other evaluated risk factors were coronary artery calcium score as measured by electron–beam computed tomography, lipoprotein(a) level, homocysteine level, leukocyte count, fasting blood glucose, periodontal disease, ankle–brachial index, and carotid intima–media thickness.
The availability and validity of the evidence varied considerably across the risk factors in terms of aggregate quality, consistency of findings, and applicability to intermediate–risk persons in the general population.
For most risk factors, no studies assessed their usefulness for reclassifying intermediate–risk persons.